Until the introduction by Tesco of its ClubCard customer loyalty programme tweleve years ago, retailers and manufacturers alike had only a rough idea of what different groups of shoppers bought. This knowledge was usually based on either self-completion questionnaires, counting the number of items remianing on the supermarket shelf or a researcher following individuals around the store noting all their purchases. Grocery retailer Tesco has now built a 40 terabyte database recording every single purcahse made by its 13 million ClubCard customers every time they use their card. The FT Magazine this weekend published a feature on how the Tesco ClubCard has become consider the company's most significant competitive advantage - even ahead of its scale and market penetration.
Posted by 192.18.1.5 on November 13, 2006 at 02:30 PM GMT #